More than half of patients with advanced forms of disease who took lorlatinib were still alive after five years with no progression

Doctors are hailing “off the chart” trial results that show a new drug stopped lung cancer advancing for longer than any other treatment in medical history.

Lung cancer is the world’s leading cause of cancer death, accounting for about 1.8m deaths every year. Survival rates in those with advanced forms of the disease, where tumours have spread, are particularly poor.

More than half of patients (60%) diagnosed with advanced forms of lung cancer who took lorlatinib were still alive five years later with no progression in their disease, data presented at the world’s largest cancer conference showed. The rate was 8% in patients treated with a standard drug, the trial found.

The results are the longest progression-free survival (PFS) outcomes ever recorded in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, the world’s most common form of the disease. They were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) in Chicago on Friday.

  • Flying SquidMEnglish
    7•7 months ago

    So… smoke 'em if you got 'em.

    • @[email protected]English
      18•7 months ago

      Smoking can also cause cancer in the larynx, mouth, pharynx, esophagus, pancreas, bladder, stomach, colon, rectum, liver, cervix, kidney, and blood. It’s by no means a free pass.

    • BilliamEnglish
      9•7 months ago

      Well that’s a hilarious tinfoil hat theory- that lung-cancer-fighting drugs are financed by Big Tobacco as a way for them to sell more cigarettes.

      And honestly, is there anything more late-stage capitalism than “who cares if this activity causes you cancer; you can just take a pill to make it go away!”

      -The above post was brought to you by Lucky Strikes, the cigarette that causes the most treatable form of cancer!